Behind the Skull
by I have a jar of dirt
Summary: Emile, in his final death moments, awakes in a completely different world where Humanity isn't facing extinction. A certain commander is skeptical towards the Spartan's origins. On Reach, Noble Six is looking for his missing squadmate... CANCELLED
1. Chapter 1: Emile, signing out

**Behind the Skull**

**Hi and welcome to my first fanfic! Any positive feedback and constructive critisism will be accepted. Enjoy the lecture!**

**UPDATE ON 26/01/11: I have corrected and rewritten several chapters, and fixed the whole "Holstered-Unholstered" debacle.  
**

**DISCLAIMER: Halo and Mass Effect are solely the properties of Bungie and Bioware, respectively. I do not own anything.**

* * *

Emile silently cheered as another Phantom dropship was blown out of the sky, the burning parts plummeting several miles towards the ground. He glanced quickly towards the landing pad, where Noble Six and a squad of marines were desperately trying to hold off another wave of Covenant soldiers. Emile sighed, remembering the time since Noble Team first arrived on Reach. Ever since, they had fought a losing battle for the salvation of the planet. He saw the faces of the people who had perished in his squad. Jorge, who had sacrificed himself to stop a Covenant Super Carrier in vain. Kat, a shot peircing her helmet after the nuclear blast in New Alexandria. And their commander, Carter, who sacrificed himself too by flying his Pelican right into a Scarab. All of them killed while defending Reach.

A low hum woke him out of his daydreaming. As he looked up, he saw a Phantom in the distance, making it's way to Six and the others. He charged up the MAC gun and fired, the supersonic slug tearing through the Phantom and obliterating it. After the debris had fallen out of sight, Emile gazed through his skull-clad helmet towards the horizon: the Covenant seemed to withdraw.

He sighed in relief and turned his attention to Noble Six again as he handed the package to Captain Keyes. Emile smiled: The brass had proven himself well in combat, and Emile was proud to have this "hyper lethal vector", as he was called, in Noble team. He silently watched the horizon again, only see a Covenant Cruiser headed their way.

Emile heard captain Keyes' voice crackle through his intercom:

"Noble Four, I need fire on that cruiser or were not getting out of here! Do you copy?"

"I have your window sir", he responded as he slowly turned the MAC gun towards the Covenant ship.

Suddently, a Phantom emerged, shooting the second Pelican that had arrived with Keyes. The dropship caught fire and was slowly starting to spiral down before it eventually crashed on the landing pad, almost crushing Noble Six. Emile turned his head quickly; the Phantom was coming right at him!

The Phantom hovered above Emile, sending down an Elite toward him. He unholstered his shotgun. As soon as the Elite had landed in front of him, Emile let out a savage cry before blasting it. Wounded, the Elite reeled backwards and feel on it's back, only to see the Spartan look over him. Emile fired a shell right in it's face.

"WHO'S NEXT?"

He suddently felt a sharp pain before realising that he had an Energy Sword through his stomach. He turned around; he saw the Zealot that had stabbed him grinning in triumph. He slowly felt the pain going away and his vision became blurred. He felt death creeping into his veins; his memories of Reach flooded into his mind; all of his squad member's faces flashed before him.

-_I'm not going to die now! _Emile thought. _For Noble! For Six!_

"I'M READY? HOW 'BOUT YOU?"

With all the strength he had left, Emile grabbed his knife and dove it into the neck of the stunned Elite. Before it had time to react, he dragged him down dowards the stairs, where he pulled out the knife and dove it in again. The body laid besides Emile, it's eyes still wide open in surprise.

Slowly, Emile dragged himself to the railing and looked towards the dead Zealot. He was starting to cough up blood inside his helmet; he knew he wouldn't survive.

-_This is it... _He coughed up more blood before the world darkened before his eyes._ Noble Four... Signing off..._

He stopped moving.

* * *

Noble Six hurried up the stairs towards the MAC gun. He had stayed behind to gain the _Pillar of Autumn_ some time to lift off, while he would take care of the cruiser. He saw Emile's body lying down, supporting itself towards the railing. Six made a final salute towards his downed comrade.

He didn't have time to mourn much longer though; the cruiser was closing in fast. As Six Seated himself into the MAC controls, he saw several Phantoms move in towards him. He charged up the gun and blew up one.

"This is for Emile!" He shouted.

He destroyed another one.

"This is for Carter!"

Another Phantom went down.

"This is for Kat!"

Another one.

"For Jorge!"

He sighted the final Phantom and blasted it into Oblivion.

"For Noble!"

The cruiser had come closer to the _Autumn _now. Six charged up another shot.

"For Reach!"

The slug pierced right through the ship's hull. A huge explosion tore through the cruiser before it went sailing down into the valley. The earth began to shake as the wreck crashed into the ground. Noble Six then saw the _Autumn_ take of, dropping the takeoff thrusters before it flew away from the planet's atomsphere and dissappeared into the clouds.

Six sighed. It was over. Noble team had nearly lost all of it's Spartans but it was over. Now that Jun was gone too, he really was the last Noble. His thoughts went dowards his squadmates, as they were valiantly defending Reach from the Covenant war machine.

_But we still lost._

He gazed toward the crimson horizon again: Fires were raging behing the mountain range, and the echoes of a cacophony of gunfire could be heard. Six looked around him; several Elite bodies were on the floor. He chuckled.

_At least Emile went out with a fight._

Remembering his fellow Spartan, Six turned towards where Emile had his resting place, only to be shocked.

Emile's body wasn't there.

* * *

**Phew! There goes the first chapter!**

**So where do you think Emile went? Will Six search for him? Stay tuned for another chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: Not from this world

**Hi and welcome to chapter 2 of Behind the Skull! There will be a small vote at the end of the chapter, but for now, enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo or Mass Effect.**

* * *

Noble Six was dumbfounded. Emile had dissappeared into was seemingly was thin air. No traces of blood, no weapons left lying on the floor, not even his trusty knife. All of it had simply... Ceased to exist.

That still gave Six a glimmer of hope. If he was gone, he might still be alive. Six hurried down the stairs, but still no sign of Emile. He searched the entire warehouse for him, but could not find the Spartan.

He gave up his search after an hour. Emile had vanished from existence, and while it still confounded Noble Six, he couldn't hope too much. Right now, he was more concerned with Jun. He remembered Carter ordering Jun to take Halsey to CASTLE base, so there had to be some kind of transport in the vicinity.

Time was running short. He asked Dot to give him the coordinates to CASTLE base, and started running.

* * *

Emile woke up with an annoying headache. He was indeed surprised to be lying face first into the ground. "I thought that bastard stabbed me" Emile muttered. "Am I in Valhalla or something?"

Slowly and painfully, Emile lifted his head. He was lying on some kind of hard, slightly blue floor. _Maybe I survived and got imprisoned_, he thought. He stood up, and saw his shotgun and his knife lying in a pile close to him. He deducted he wasn't in some kind of Covenant prison. Of course, it could have been manned by Grunts, and they weren't the Sherlock bloody Holmes of the galaxy. He carefully adjusted his helmet a bit and began to scan his surroundings.

He was surprised to find that he was surrounded by extremely tall skyscrapers, towering over the clouds and beyond. Flying in the air were long colums of flying cars, their lights on in the darkness. Between two buildings, the bright orange sun was setting, bathing the huge glass towers in a gentle purple hue. Neon signs of all kind of colors flashed on huge billboards attached to the soaring pillars of glass. Emile was speechless. Not even New Alexandria could match up to this.

_Seems like I've landed in some kind of sci-fi movie_ Emile thought for himself.

Millions of questions were swimming around in his head. How did he get here? Where is here? Was he dead?

Was this some kind of dream he had in his final death moments?

Emile looked down upon his torso. No marks of where he was stabbed were visible. Not even his armor was scratched. It was shining as if it was new. He felt on his helmet if his skull marking had been removed. No, it was still there. He picked up his weapons and inspected them for any damage. Everything worked. Even his knife was shining. Arming himself again, he decided to find out where he was.

He appeared to be standing on some kind of platform, emanating from an enormously tall skyscraper who was connected into another similarly looking one. The only entrance into the building was through a huge piece of curved glass. Seating above the window was a red neon sign reading "DANTIUS TOWERS".

* * *

Commander Shepard was extremely tired. The operation on Horizon wasn't really a success; half of the colony had still been abducted, he had almost been vaporised by a Collector Preatorian, had a few close calls with Husks, and if that wasn't enough, he had discovered that this "Harbinger" could control his minions. He had also met Kaidan there, who strongly disagreed with his motives of joining Cerberus. Still, the Illusive Man had been droning on about his good work on the colony, how it could have been worse, how exceptionally good Shepard was, but it rarely felt enough.

Shepard fell on his bed, reading through the new dossiers the Illusive Man had provided him, and he was pleasantly surprised that Tali had figured on one of them. Most of the crew were completely new to him: He did not question their combat abilities, and they were all good people (except for Jack, who was swearing about anything you could swear about), but he still prefered his old crew who had helped him stop Saren and Sovereign.

He skimmed trough the dossiers again, and discovered that the other two were both on Illium. Although he would like have Tali on the crew, he knew that it would be the best alternative to look for them first. Putting aside the notepads, he headed down for the CIC.

"Joker, set a course for Illium. And wake me when we arrive."

"Aye-aye commander".

Slowly, Shepard made his way towards his private quarters, and slumped on his bed before falling into sleep.

* * *

Emile could barely believe his eyes: Behind that glass wall were two Prophets! He unholstered his shotgun, only to realise they were standing up; Prophets were never seen without a flying chair. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the aliens weren't like anything he'd seen.

They were bipedal, with two small horns on the head, large google-like eyes, and a slightly hunched form. They had arched lower legs and a frail appearance, and they didn't look like fighters. Emile lowered his shotgun, but kept it firmly in his hands; he didn't know if it was some kind of new race in the Covenant. On second thoughts, it could have been a new race, but he decided to not trust them until they were proven friendly.

As he approached them however, they started to flee. Emile saw why; several shots could be seen flying by, killing one of them. The other fled out of sight.

Emile holstered his shotgun again towards the newcomers; a pair of white humanoid mechs, each one carrying a gun of some sorts. Their optical sensors turned towards Emile before flashing red, and they began to shoot.

"Whoa!" Emile shouted before rolling to cover from the splintering glass. He pumped his shotgun and fired, the shot taking down both of the mechs heads. Two more robots appeared, this time looking like dogs. Emile took them down easily; their frail white structure didn't appear to stop shotgun shells wery well.

After the fight was over, Emile walked into the building, his shotgun ready. Surveying the area, he found the other alien slumped against a wall, laying in a pool of blood. He looked panicked at the sight of a seven foot giant with a skull on his helmet staring on him. He breathed terribly; Emile deducted he had a punctured lung after seeing his wound on the chest. The bloke didn't have much time to live, so he would have to interrogate him fast.

_This entire day has been completely fucked-up_, Emile thought.

* * *

**That's the second chapter cleared! What will Emile find out? Will he meet Shepard? Will Six arrive at CASTLE base? Find out in the next episode!**

**VOTE: Should Jun make an appearance in the story? If yes, when and where?**


	3. Chapter 3: A civil alien?

**Hello and welcome to the third chapter of Behind the Skull!**

**First of all, I will inform that I will try to post at least two chapters a week, and maybe more when I have the time (I don't want to let the readers down). Secondly I want to thank all of you for reading this fanfic and for your nice reviews.**

**Also I would like to mention that, as you probably noticed, this fanfic will follow several points of view, but Emile will still be the main character.**

**Vote at the end!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo or Mass Effect**

* * *

Emile grew closer to the wounded alien and held up his weapon towards the it. The alien was visibly terrified at the sight of the skull-clad spartan, and it's eyes began to grow wide in fear. Emile stated:

"I need you to answer my questions."

The alien seemed to calm down a bit before asking:

"Y-you're here for the assassin or for Nassana?"

_At least he we can understand each other_, Emile thought, but it still confused him.

"Assassin? Nassana?"

Emile was wondering what exactly had been going on here.

"You don't know?" The alien asked again.

"You mind telling me?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," the alien responded. "I'm just a local worker, but rumors get around fast here, you know? Someone apparently hired an assassin to kill Nassana, and she's been growing paranoid. She sent out hired Eclipse mercs after us, because she didn't trust us..."

The wounded worker's eyes went sad.

"I... I saw them. Slaughtering my defenceless colleagues... Some of us even tried jumping down from the balconies to escape... It was horrible... And then they sent the dogs after us... Oh god..."

The alien grasped his torso in pain.

"Can't... Breathe..."

Somehow, Emile felt sorry for the creature. This alien wasn't hostile to him, and was even begging for help. If he wanted to, Emile could have left him to his own destiny, but he decided to save him.

Alien or not, killing civilians wasn't part of his agenda.

He grabbed the biofoam pack and held it towards the workers injury.

"Hold still, this might sting a bit."

He pressed the trigger, sending white foam through the open wound. The alien gasped, and looked down surprised to his torso when he discovered he was able to breathe normally. Slowly, he stood up.

"Th... Thank you," the alien whispered. "I owe you my life..."

Emile paid little attention to the worker, but kept on questioning him. "I need to know who this Nassana person is."

The aliens eyes grew wide open in surprise.

"You don't know? Nassana is the most infamous buisnesswoman on Illium! She wouldn't hesitate to bump off her concurrents to stay in power!"

"Doesn't sound like a nice person," Emile commented.

"I don't know really why I started working for her. Guess I needed the money."

Emile thought about it for a while before deciding himself. Whoever this "Nassana" was, she would probably have some more information on his whereabouts than the injured worker. And maybe there would be something to blow up.

"I'm going to pay this Nassana a little visit," he decided. "You know where she is?"

"She's at the top of the second tower, in her office," the worker responded. It's acsessible by a bridge at the top of this tower, but there's a lot of mercs along the way, and if you're not careful, the wind will blow you off the roof."

_Doesn't sound easy. But then again, it wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy._

"I'm going to have a chat with her then. I suggest you stay put and wait for help to arrive."

"I will," the alien said, walking slowly away. He turned his head back towards Emile again. "If you see any workers alive up there, could you tell me?"

Emile didn't answer and simply unholstered his shotgun again, but was interrupted by the alien again.

"Wait! I never caught your name, stranger."

Emile turned around and answered:

"Just call me Emile."

And then he went of towards the door.

* * *

"We are docking at Illium spaceport now commander," Joker's voice cracked trough the Normandy's intercom.

"Good," Shepard answered. "Tell Garrus and Jacob to meet me at the door."

The commander went to the armory to arm himself, where he met Jacob who was inspecting a Carnifex hand cannon. The Cerberus operative turned towards Shepard and made a crisp salute before returning to polishing his gun.

"So," Jacob asked, "We are going to look for the assassin first?"

"Yes, a drell named Thane Krios," Shepard answered, equiping himself with an Avenger assault rifle. "We'll go meet the information broker first to find his whereabouts, and then we will try to recruit him."

Shepard looked over at Jacob, who didn't look very happy.

"Something wrong Jacob?"

"No offence commander," Jacob said as he slotted in a thermal clip into his hand cannon, "but I don't like the idea of having a hired assassin on the team."

"You can think whatever you want about it," Shepard glared back, "but don't let it jeopardize the mission."

"Of course Commander."

After a while, fully equiped and armed, Shepard and Jacob went to the airlock, where Garrus was already waiting for them. The door opened, and Shepard and his team walked out of the Normandy, heading for the information broker. Shepard had a strange feeling.

_I have a feeling that somehow, there is a surprise waiting for us when we find him_, he mused.

* * *

**So, Emile is going for Nassana while Shepard is going for Thane. A meeting between both parties is inevitable (that's the whole point)... And a massive clusterf*ck too...**

**Now for the vote. I have decided in my extreme wisdom that Jun will appear in the ME universe, and that Six will stay on Reach. Don't worry, both of them will appear in the next chapter!**

**Only now, how big should Six' role be in this story?**

**Keep voting and reviewing, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4: Aliens, Warthogs & Headshots

**Hello again! This chapter will feature Jun finally! Hooray! *Claps and cheers* Anyway, enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo or Mass Effect**

* * *

"So where do you come from?"

The question was simple, but the answer wasn't. The asian sniper glanced toward this "Quarian", as she was called; protected from the outside world by a skin-tight enviro-suit and a polarized, purple visor. Jun had a slight headache from his spatio-temporal trip or whatever it was, but most of it was to blame the entire confusion of landing in a completely different location, with other friendly aliens. He decided to try a plausible explanation.

"My ship crashed on this world, and me and the crew got separated. I don't know where they are."

"So far on the outer rim? What did you do out in Geth-controlled space?"

Jun was taken aback; he had travelled to the outer rim of the galaxy? No UNSC ships on record has moved in there yet, but he and the Quarian could understand each other. A what were these Geth? A new race? Another name for the Covenant? She did, after all, bear the traditional color of the Covenant, and he knew they had studied Humanity for some while, but she didn't seem hostile, only... Curious. Jun searched around his head for another believable cause.

"Our ship's slipspace drive got a malfunction a we arrived here."

The alien slightly cocked he head to the side.

"What's a slipspace drive?"

_Damn_, Jun cursed. How couldn't she know about slipspace drives? Did these Quarians invent another type of drive or didn't they have at all? He tried again.

"It's... An experimental one. I can't tell you about the details."

"Oh, okay. You need a hand? I can help you back to camp and we'll try to search for your crew afterwards."

Jun was suspicious. The Quarian seemed frail, but he had no idea of her combat capabillities or her weaponry. He doubted it would be hard if she got hostile anyway; after all, he was a Spartan.

"Sure. Let's go."

"By the way, I'm Tali Zorah vas Neema nar' Rayya."

Strugling to remember that name, Noble Three slightly shook his head.

"You can just call me Tali."

"Sure. I'm Jun."

* * *

Noble Six sat on a crate, looking out over the horizon. Neither Emile or Jun had been present at CASTLE base: In fact, it was completely abandoned, to his surprise. Last he heard, the Covenant were swarming all over the place.

Six had been walking for days before finding a single intact warthog transport at an abandoned outpost. From there, it had taken him a couple of weeks to arrive at CASTLE base; being on watch for Covenant, hiding for Phantoms and Cruisers swooping overhead, and had even witnessed a Super-Carrier headed for New Alexandria. He remembered Jorge and his worthless sacrifice, and that sent him a pang of sadness though his heart. Six had always thought Jorge was invincible; His huge hulking mass of an armor, cutting down waves of Covenant with his machine gun and sending them fleeing. All of it gone in less than a a second when the slipspace bomb went of. Six became angry. It was all the Covenant's fault. All those years of death and suffering was their fault. Noble team's death as their fault.

But what of it?

Would they have been together if they hadn't become Spartans? Would he have met Jorge, Jun, Emile, Kat and Carter if there was no common threat to unite them?

Life was strange indeed.

Six shook his head and went back to his vehicle. He wouldn't end up like them. He would continue fighting for their honor.

And the first step in doing that was to get of Reach.

* * *

Emile swore under his helmet. He was pinned down after meeting a couple of mercs. His shotgun was ineffective towards their strange shields. Not that it was useful at that distance. Emile switched to his Magnum, got out of cover and fired. He was surprised when merc's face was shot of; standard bullets appeared to be more effective, or maybe he had already weakened the shield enough. As the headless merc's body fell to the floor in a cascade of blood, his teammate stared at the corpse in horror. A mistake which cost him his life, as Emile blasted off his neck.

Walking towards the corpses, Emile took a closer look at his opponents. He noticed one of them looked like a humanoid female, but with blue skin, and some kind of tentacles instead of hair on her head. Looking over to the other corpse, he saw...

_A human?_

It was a human indeed; only that where his face should have been, there was now a bloody, pulpy mess. Emile looked down upon the body in dissarray. That human had shot him and he had worked with that other alien. Emile wondered if this man, somehow, was connected to the Insurrectionists.

He had no more time to think about it any more, however, as he saw the door open up in front of him.

* * *

**NOTE: ME shield technology is designed to stop bullets the size of sand grains (like the pellets from Emile's shotgun), but unlike Halo's shields, larger rounds like Magnum shots will easily go through.**

**DUN-DUN-DUN!**

**or should I say...**

**JUN-JUN-JUN!**

**Jun: Very funny.**

**Anyway, on that bombshell this chapter will end! See ya!**


	5. Chapter 5: Swiss cheese

**Finally! Hello everyone!**

**I'm terribly sorry for not posting any chapters last week, but that nether-region of terror (quoting Lord Mandalore) called School is taking up a large amount of time. But now to the announcements:**

**-I've decided to make the chapters longer due to some criticism for the length of chapter 4.**

**-I've fixed some faults in the older chapters and improved some parts.**

**-NEWS FLASH! I'm writing a new ME story! Coming soon!**

**Well, let us not waste breath on talking and enjoy chapter 5! Lot's of firefights and Emile-badassery! Oh, but before...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo or Mass Effect (as usual)**

* * *

The elevator door opened, revealing two more of the blue aliens Emile had encountered before.

_Should be easy enough_, he thought.

Emiles enthusiasm dropped when an enormous, dangerous-looking white mech walked into view. It's white optics turned towards him and began glowing red.

TARGET CONFIRMED, it rumbled.

It's right arm opened up, revealing a machine gun. Emile took cover behind a pillar before the mech unleashed a hailstorm of bullets towards his position. The shots colided heavily against Emile's cover, with the occasional pinging of the other aliens' guns.

_Damn it_.

Reloading his pistol, Emile leaned out of cover and shot one of the aliens in the stomach. It collapsed on the ploor with a cry. He was immediately forced back into cover by furious suppressing fire. Sighing, he discovered a shotgun from one of the mercs he had killed earlier right in front of his feet. Picking it up, he started inspecting it. The weapon prove to be confusing; after some tinkering with the holographic buttons, the weapon started to glow slightly red. A heads-up display showed him he had activated incendiary ammo.

_Let's see how this goes_.

Emile went out of cover and fired again at the alien who had lingered closer to him. The shot dropped her shields. Emile pressed the trigger again, but the weapon started to smoke and didn't fire.

"Oh what the!-"

Emile realised he had made a mistake when she began to glow blue. An explosive container was contained in the same blue aura. She pushed her hand forward, the container soaring through the air towards Emile. He quickly holstered his pistol and shot it close to the aliens face, the explosion downing her shields and burning her before he put her out of her misery with a single pistol shot. The Spartan had become a little fazed of this display of superpowers.

_Well that was scary_. _Now I only have to take care of the mech and_...

"FIRING"

Emile quickly jumped out of the way as a rocket rushed past him. He dove back into cover as more bullets pelted upon his cover. The situation was not going well for the Spartan. He was out of shells to his strange shotgun and an angry mech was hell-bent on killing him. Looking for some sort of reload mechanism, Emile frustratingly punched the weapon; to his surprise, a smoking thermal clip fell out and the ammo meter went up again. Making a mental note for that, Emile now turned out and fired. The shot impacted the mech's shields, who returned in kind. The Spartan's shielding in it's turn dropped quickly, but stayed at 40 %. Popping out again, he managed to down it's protection.

_It's now or never_, he thought.

Rushing out of cover, he dodged the majority of the mech's salvo; the machine gun finally began to smoke before it managed to down Emile's shields. Drawing out his trusty kukri knife, he jumped upon the white shell of the robot. It was confused and searched around the room for him like a rampaging bull, while he barely managed to hold on to it. Blasting open a hole in the mechanical beast's head, he plunged in the knife several times, ripping out the circuitry.

"CRIIII-T-TICAL OVERR-LOAD-D", the robot stammered.

Emile dragged out his knife and jumped off before the mech blew up. Making a perfect roll as he landed, he stood up before contemplating his vanquished foe in pieces. Kicking the scrap metal and chuckling, he announced:

"Emile two, and whatever the hell you are, nil."

* * *

Jun and Tali had arrived a the Quarian encampment, situated in the middle of some ancient ruins. Everyone looked up in surprise at the arrival of Tali and the large unidentified human. Jun noticed that everyone bore the same enviro-suits that the other quarian had, but in different colours and helmet shapes, all protected by tinted glass. He guessed that the one with different build and slightly avian helmets were males. One of them with a red suit approached them.

"Keelah Tali, who is that human? And what is he doing here in the outer rim?"

Jun almost jumped when he heared the Quarian call him human. Were they with the Covenant after all? No, still not possible. The Covenant would try to kill him on sight, yet no one raised their weapons. And they referred to him as a human, and not a "Demon".

"His name is Jun I think." Tali answered. "He was separated from his crew when his ship crashed here. Some sort of experimental tech, but he won't tell us more."

The red quarian looked up towards his face, both of them unreadable by their respective visors.

"How do you know we can trust him?"

"I tell you what," Jun said and crossed his arms. "You tell me where we are and I might answer you some questions."

Tali and the other Quarian looked upon each other before turning back to him.

"This is the planet Haestrom," The red one answered. "One of our older home planets before we were forced to flee from the Geth."

"Geth?"

"Never heard of them?" Tali said in surprise. "The sentient machines that orchestrated the attack on the Citadel?" The ones that drove my people into exile and forced us to live on ships?"

Before Jun could ask any more on any of these topics, a gigantic purple dropship of some kind swooped over them, releasing several pods on the ground. As they opened, several humanoid machines with a single glowing eye walked out, their weapons ready. A storm of bullets filled the place. Jun and the other two quarians took cover behind an overturned pillar.

"That's the Geth!" Tali roared, drawing out some kind of shotgun. The red one took out something looking like an assault rifle.

"Guess it's time to help you out," Jun said calmly.

He unholstered his massive sniper rifle before their eyes, both surprised by it's sheer size. Unsecuring it, he took point and and fired. The loud crack was heard by the advancing Geth, who looked towards the source of the sound. A metallic crash was heard, and both Quarians and Geth turned around to see the smoking corpse of a Geth Destroyer fall, it's head blown of by the massive slug.

All the quarians were mesermized by the power of Jun's strange weapon. The red quarian spoke:

"Where did you get that?"

Jun smiled behind his helmet and simply replied:

"Experimental."

Both sides, however, had recovered from the shock, and started firing again. The other Quarian shouted over the sound of battle:

"By the way, the name Kal' Reegar!"

"Pleasure to meet you," Jun replied.

He fired again from cover and destroyed another Geth unit's head.

* * *

I'll drop you off here," the asari said.

The hovercar stopped in midair above the platform and lowered itself. Shepard, Jacob and Garrus stepped out of the vehicle, readying their weapons.

"Alright, let's find this assassin," Jacob spoke up.

"I'll see you later," the asari replied before taking off again.

Shepard gestured to his squad to follow him, Jacob with his shotgun on the left and Garrus with his sniper rifle on the right. Both noticed that the window was in splinters; apparently, some fighting had been going on here. As they stepped in, they noticed the strewn mech parts lying on the floor.

"Stay alert," Shepard ordered.

"You think the assassin did this?" Asked Garrus.

"I always thought they preferred sneaking around," Jacob replied.

"Psst! Over here!" A voice whispered.

Shepard and the others turned towards the sound, their weapons ready, but they only discovered a salarian worker leaned against a wall. He was covered in cuts and bruises, and a gunshot wound near his lungs had been filled with some kind of white foam.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked.

"I just work here," the salarian replied in a slightly weak voice, "but Nassana is killing us off 'cause she thinks we want to kill her."

"Have you seen an assassin?"

"No, but I've heard he's somewhere in here, trying to get to Nassana too. Because you're after her right?"

"Yes."

Garrus was studying the wound on the salarians stomach.

"How did you do that? Medi-gel doesn't react like that..." He asked, pointing towards the foam-filled injury.

"Someone else helped me out," he answered. "Someone who is after Nassana too."

"Another one?" Shepard asked.

"That could explain the destroyed mech we encountered earlier," Jacob reasoned.

"Yes, a very tall human, some kind of unknown weapons, and a skull carved on his helmet. I've never seen any kind of thing like that."

The armed group stared at each other before Shepard asked:

"You know where he is?"

"He went up those stairs," the salarian answered, pointing towards the door behind them.

"alright people," Shepard said, "Let's move out."

* * *

The hall behind Emile was strewn with burning corpses and destroyed mech parts. He had passed three floors already, wiping up any resistance he met. Emile was irritated; he had been fighting against annoying alien mercs without taking a break. He was trying to find some kind of lunatic who, hopefully had a way to get off this planet. He had met blue chicks with psionic powers or something like that. He had some close encounters with huge walking machines. He had _saved_ an alien instead of shooting him. And even worse, he had confirmed he was fighting against other humans. Everything was surreal... In a bloody kind of way.

Observing the carnage he had created in front of him, he glanced down upon his shotgun again. The only moderatly pleasing thing was that he had learned rather quickly how the weapon worked: Otherwise, he would have been swiss cheese. He was interested in it's design, and the different types of ammo mods too, but he still preferred the kick of his old one.

Slowly walking towards a door, he dabbed the holographic panel and the door slid open. Inside were several more of those workers, seemingly terrified.

"You-you killed them, right?" One of them asked. "Th-thank you..."

Emile's patience ran short. Even more aliens saved. Great. His first impulse was to shoot them, but he stayed his hand.

"Just get the fuck out of here," he growled.

The workers slowly walked away, but one of them turned towards Emile.

"Oh and if you see the assassin," he added, "tell him to aim for the head, because she's got no heart."

"Whatever."

* * *

**So, Jun and the others are in a firefight, and Emile (who is pissed), the Assassin, and Shep and company are racing towards that nasty nasty woman Nassana Dantius!**

**See you soon!**


	6. Chapter 6: A bridge too far

**Hello again and welcome to chapter 6 of Behind the Skull. Lot's of action now, and the knot is slowly tightening itself across the sack.**

**I've decided to try and only release one chapter per week instead of two. Don't fret, I'll try to keep them long.**

**As for my new ME story Borat Shepard, it will be on hold until later since I'm running low on ideas right now.  
**

**And before we begin:**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo or ME.**

* * *

Dust clouds rose from the ground as Noble Six drove his Warthog over the now barren wastelands of Reach. He had noticed that the sky now had a bright red tint; typical signs that the Covenant had started glassing the planet. Bringing up a map on his HUD in his helmet, Noble Six put a marker on his objective; a small settlement that was still holding against the Covenant.

"Dot, are they holding on?"

"Initial calculations show that the garrison will hold for 19 hours before being overrun," she responded. "However, there are no signs of any kind of off-world transport in the vicinity. Your motivations for heading there seem unclear."

"Because where there's a fight, there's a Phantom. We're gonna steal one and get away from here."

"Even if you managed to capture one Noble Six," Auntie Dot retorted, "there is less than a 12.64% chance that we will escape unharmed from Reach. The Covenant fleet is still patrolling around orbit."

"Then we'll make sure not to be spotted."

Six continued driving on the road. It was blackened by plasma scorch marks, and burning vehicles laid on the side of it, mangled bodies still hanging out of the front windows. Dead trees bent over the highway, casting their shadows on Six' Warthog as he drove by.

The spartan stopped the vehicle in front of a wreck; lying on the road was a crashed Falcon, burnt by plasma everywhere. One of the rotor blades had simply snapped when it crashed, and it had drilled itself through a tree. The other one was bent at extreme angles. The cockpit was burning, shattered glass piling up in front of Six' vehicle. He stepped out and noticed the corpse of a pilot lying on the ground in a pool of dark blood.

The man's suit was torn and blackened, and dried blood stains ornated his uniform. Six could not see his face since the corpse was lying face down. Walking up to it, he gently turned him on his back. The last Noble survivor contemplated his fallen comrade before taking notice of the gleaming dog tags that were attached to his neck. Removing them from the dead man's neck, he smeared the blood off and read them, before recognising the serial number.

It was one of Noble Team's pilots.

* * *

As the burning corpse of final merc fell dead on the floor, Emile changed the thermal clips in his shotgun, then proceeded to pick up some more from the dead bodies. Walking to the end of the door, he held his shotgun in a tight grip as he opened it. Emile had grown accustomed to this monotone task on his quest to find Nassana. Open door, clear room of resistance, pick up clips, repeat. It was like brushing your teeth, he thought. Brush, spit, rince, repeat. Only this was maybe slightly more exciting.

He was met by a strong breeze, and realised that he had reached the bridge which connected to the other tower. Victory was almost in sight... Only there was a smaller army of mercs in his way. Quickly sprinting into cover, his position was pelted with bullets and rockets.

_Damn it, why can never things be easy enough?_

He popped out of cover at shot one of the rocket wielders, whose shields failed before he was blasted by another shell. Seeing this a a potential game changer, Emile daringly speeded out of cover and recovered the rocket launcher. Diving into cover again, he sighed as this weapon still had those over-complicated holographic panels. Deciding to ignore if he could somehow configure the weapon into a nuke launcher, he stood up and fired away at his heart's content. With his Spartan precision, he blew half of the enemy squad of the bridge, sending their bodies plummeting down to the ground like ragdolls.

The survivors replied with fierce rocket fire from one of the ledges above, forcing him back into cover. However, they didn't seem to care that they had moved onto dangerous terrain: They were standing on the far corner of the balcony, which was only supported by a single pillar.

Something Emile took in account.

He primed a frag grenade from his belt and tossed it violently. It landed exactly at the base of the pillar and detonated, bringing the down balcony with it.

The mercs barely had time to think of what happened before several boulders crushed them.

"Suck on that!"

Emile's enthusiasm was gone when the hailstorm of bullets intensified. Emile started to think for himself.

_Let's see. I was in a similar situation earlier. What should I do?_

He carefully looked over his cover, seeing that there were only a puny four mercenaries left.

_Seems like I overstayed my welcome..._

Without warning, the Spartan bolted out of cover, the bullets pinging off his more powerful shield. Hefting his magnum pistol, he raised it and fired, scoring a headshot on one of the soldiers. He quickly approached the second one, and in one swift movement, drew out his kukri knife and lodged it in his stomach. The merc made a blood-curdling scream behind his helmet before Emile grabbed him and held him in front of his comrades like a human shield. The improvised cover took all the shots while Emile dropped all the others one by one with his pistol. Letting out a final gurgle, he dropped dead on the floor as Emile released him.

"Thanks," Emile waved at him before continuing up the stairs to Nassanas lair.

He was about to approach the door when it opened, revealing a really pissed-off blue chick-alien clad in yellow armor. She was wrapped in that mysterious blue energy Emile had seen before, what he knew was some kind of telekinesis.

"You!" She spat. She was now glowing more intensely, and was standing ready to confront him. As soon a Emile took out his magnum again, she charged at him.

* * *

"Fall back!" Tali shouted.

Jun had destroyed more Geth units that could count, but these machines were relentless, and they had now been pushed back far into the ruins, into a more easily defended position. Jun reloaded another clip before dropping two Geth with a single shot, their optic eyes exploding all over the place. He made a quick glance at the Quarians: Tali and Kal' Reegar seemed to hold their own in combat. Most of the others had been killed save for a group of four.

Returning his focus on the bettlefield, he downed three more machines before reloading again. He was running low on clips by now, which was not a good sign.

Suddently Tali shouted: "Jun! Behind you!"

He turned around and saw a colossal Geth Destroyer charging towards him. He quickly rolled out of the way before it crashed into the wall, making a ton of debris fall over it. The thing simply shrugged it off before turning to Jun again and raised it's gun. Jun did not hesitate; he charged towards the Geth at full speed, knocking it over with him. They were struggling around on the floor, each one trying to reach each other. Jun, however, proved to be the stronger one, and violently kicked the machine away from him. He pulled himself up and violently punched the Destroyer's "eye", breaking it and crushing several vital electronics. The thing sparkled and made a smaller explosion, knocking Jun off balance slightly.

Regaining his posture, he picked up his weapons again and shook his head. He turned around and noticed Tali glaring at him behind her helmet, completely speechless.

"Keelah, what kind of person are you?"

* * *

"Man, look at this mess."

Jacob was right; the entire room was blown apart and full of bodies and mech parts, just like all the other rooms Shepard and his squad had passed on their way up to the top of tower. The destruction was similar to what would have happened if someone had unleashed a rabid varren pumped full of steroids onto a Kindergarten court. Apparently, they had learned from a group of salarian workers heading out of the building that the skull-clad warrior was still on the loose somewhere inside the Dantius Towers. Shepard was curious to know what kind of person this was who could single-handedly take down a battalion of Eclipse mercs and YMIR mechs.

"You think it was a biotic maybe?" Garrus asked.

"I don't know, but whoever it is, he is certainly skilled," Shepard answered.

"Or mad," Jacob muttered.

Everyone then heard a pained sound in one of the corners; everybody raised their weapons towards the origin of the voice.

"Shit... Shit... Shit..."

Slowly, a wounded merc dragged himself slowly out of the shadows with one hand, the other one clutched around his stomach. Shepard approached him slowly, his rifle still trained on the man's face.

"Who are you? Who did this?"

"Th.. That skull freak..." The wounded man answered. "Agh... Shit..."

"Where is he?"

"The... There..." He pointed before grabbing his waist again. "Argh..."

He fell down on the floor, dead.

* * *

**Don't worry, Shepard will meet Emile in the next chapter (finally), and Thane will make his appearance as well! See you next week!**


	7. Chapter 7: Revelations Sorta

**Finally! I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. First off, the whole family were meeting together for Christmas, so I've been occupied that whole time. In about the same time, my old computer broke down, but I managed to save some files over to my mom's old computer, which hasn't been used since 2007-2008 or something. After wiping clean the memory disk, I had to reinstall it, which took a couple of days, and then transfer the backup files. After realising that I hadn't posted a chapter for a long amount of time, I had to stress it through, so if you see any grammar faults, please tell me. **

**So, I hope you understand my excuse for waiting so long. But here's the chapter anyways!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not blah blah blah...**

* * *

_Blam._

The shotgun blast sent the biotic commander flying through the air, her face transfigured into a red jelly, and then make her land heavily on the floor. Emile snorted as he once again pumped his shotgun and contemplated his now dead enemy, before continuing towards the door. It had been a tough fight, and he had been close to loosing his head one time when a biotic warp flew over his head, but he had proven that you never mess with a Spartan.

He opened the door by pressing the holoswitch and raised his shotgun again, ready to face any incoming threats. With a soft sound, the gate slid open, revealing a dark room with little more than a desk, a chair and a large, panoramic window behind it, showing several skyscrapers in the background. Only four occupants were in the room. Three armed mercenairies, and the woman that had caused Emile so much grief.

Nassana Dantius.

She was one of those blue aliens Emile had encountered earlier, but she had a darker shade of blue, several white and red stripes running down the face, and gleaming eyes filled with... Hatred?

No, it was not the same glow the Spartan had seen so many times in the eyes of the Covenant races.

This was pure evil.

Their guards pointed their weapons at him; he replied with the same. Nobody though looked like they wanted to take the shot at first. What seemed to be a Mexican standoff was broken when Nassana spoke in a cold voice, devoid of all emotion.

"You've come here to kill me, haven't you? Your employer must be desperate to send two assassins after me."

"I don't have an employer," he answered. "I'm here because you're gonna give me answers."

She made a chilling, emotionless laugh.

"Ask me? I am Nassana Dantius, the most powerful woman on Illium, and I am supposed to answer your questions? Who do you think you are?"

_What a bitch_, was the only thing Emile could think of her.

"You're not in a very good position to debate about that," Emile retorted.

"We'll see about that."

Just as she finished her words, something unexpected happened.

Were it not for his Spartan reflexes, Emile wouldn't had understood what happened. He saw a green figure drop out of a hole in the roof, snap the first guard's neck, knock out the second one, disarm the third and then shoot her. It then turned towards Nassana. Just as she was about to say something, a shot was heard, and she fell towards her desk. The green figure catched her gently in mid-air before lowering her on the table slowly.

"N...No..." She gasped, before her body went limp.

And thus ended the life of Nassana Dantius, the most evil woman to set foot on Illium... And still a bitch in Emile's opinion.

* * *

The Geth had retreated for now, but Tali knew that they would come back.

_They always come back_, she thought bitterly.

She and her group of survivors had retreated into a run-down ruin that had once been a research lab. The place was a mess; broken computers were scattered everywhere in the rubble, and entire parts of walls had fallen down, but at least they were safe from the Geth for a while.

"You do know it isn't very wise to take shelter in a broken building, right?"

She glanced over towards the mysterious human named Jun, an annoyed face hidden under her helmet. He was currently sitting on a piece of rubble with his dissassembled weapon and some cleaning equipment in his hand, the latter to which he had borrowed from the other quarians.

"If you want to take your chances with the Geth," she spat back, "be my guest."

He lifted his hands in submission, his expression unreadable by his own helmet.

"Just saying."

He went back to cleaning his enormous rifle. Tali sighed.

"No, I'm sorry. It's just... We have been a bit on the edge when it comes to the Geth. I've lost a lot of good lives to them. Our people... Have lost a lot to them."

Jun's head turned up towards her again.

"What do you mean?"

Jun could faintly see her glowing eyes going sad through the helmet.

"We created the Geth a long time ago, as tools of labor and war. When we found out they started to gain consiousness, we tried to shut them down, but... They rebelled against us. We lost all our planets to them, including our own homeworld, and we were forced to flee on whatever ships we had left." She pointed her hand towards her helmet. "Over time, our immune systems became weakened so much, due to the sterile enviroment we live in, that we had to start carrying suits because even a simple whiff of air could make us sick."

Tali clenched her hands into fists.

"Even now, all the other Citadel races look down on us for creating them. They all believe we are beggars and thieves."

Jun was, in the lack of a better word, surprised. For the UNSC, the AIs had been instrumental in their effort to hold against the Covenant; the only technological superiority they had against them. the Quarians had simply tried to shut down the Geth when they had started to question their morales.

"So... You didn't even try to reason with the Geth?"

"Do you really think it would work?" Tali exclaimed angrily. "They are soulless machines who stole our homeworld from us and drove us into exile, they cannot be reasoned with!"

"AIs are logical entities," a computerized voice rang out. "If you manage to convince them that their ways do not make sense, they will probably accept."

Everyone felt silent to the new, mysterious voice, all but Jun, who was rather surprised by it's... Familiarity.

* * *

"What did you say, Dot?" Six asked.

"I was answering to Noble Three's interlocutor."

"Wait, Jun is alive? Where is he?"

"Calculating..."

As Dot finished the equations, she remained silent towards the results.

"Dot... Dot?"

"Done. Initial calculations show that Noble Three's position is located on the outer rim of the galaxy, in the yet uncharted parts of space... And probably in another layer of reality."

Six stopped the Warthog abruptly.

"Wait... What? Are you telling me that..."

"My assumption is correct," Dot answered. Six was very suspicious. How on Earth did Jun end up in another dimension? And how did Dot even manage to speak to him? That shouldn't be possible... But if he was still alive, he needed to know if he was okay.

"How can you even contact him?

"Unsure. However, there is a... Presence... That allows me to."

"What presence?"

"Unknown. It is existing, though I cannot comprehend it."

Six remained quiet for a while.

"Can you establish a Comlink to him?"

Dot paused a moment before answering.

"Connection established with Noble Three."

* * *

Shepard and company were getting concerned. They had walked through the entirety of the Dantius Towers without facing any resistance; whoever dealt with them was thorough in his wake of destruction across the many floors that led to the top of the tower. Still, they held caution. No one knew what could happen.

As Shepard opened another door, he was met with a strong breeze; thet had reached the top of the tower. Quickly, he ordered his squad to follow him. The Assassin hadn't spared anyone here either; as they crossed the bridge, they noticed that more bodies were lying around, and that several black scorchmarks were present here and there. A part of the balcony above them had even been blown away, as it seemed; Shepard noticed several limbs sticking out of the rubble pile that had been formed.

His mind drifted back to what had been written on the dossier about the Assassin;

_"-Expert in stealth techniques and unparalleled sniper"_

_If this is his idea of stealth_, Shepard muttered, _I don't want to know what happens when he goes in loud._

They approached a large door now, which was being guarded by a lone, dead asari with a smashed face slumped against the wall. They simply ignored her.

Shepard ordered his squad to form up on the entrance; he took point while Jacob went to the left, his shotgun ready, while Garrus held himselt to the right end, his assault rifle in hand. Shepard raised three fingers.

_Three..._

He let down one.

_Two..._

Another one.

_One..._

He clutched his hand, and Jacob opened the door. Shepard rushed in, then Garrus, and finally Jacob.

What they saw was... Intriguing.

Nassana and all her guards were dead; instead, they were greeted by a drell...

And the recieving end of a shotgun pipe, held by none other than a soldier with a skull engraved on his helmet.

* * *

**JUN-JUN-JUN!**

**Jun: That's not funny.**

**Anyways... See you soon... I hope...**


	8. Chapter 8: It's go time!

**I'M BACK! Well, at least temporarily.**

**I finally managed to find a way to deliver more fanfic-goodness directly to you; I managed to get the password to my mom's PC, so I can write a bit while she's not using it. It's not ideal, but it's the only way right now. Aaaand... I've got a new story going on! Or at least, I'm developing the idea.**

**Well, let's pick up where our cliffhanger ended, shall we?**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not... Yawn.**

* * *

**SEVERAL MINUTES BEFORE**

Of all outcomes, Emile should have foreseen this.

His little showdown with Nassana had made him forget completely about the assassin. Currently, the Spartan was observing the killer who was praying over his victim's dead body, completely silent and oblivious to his presence. He watched the murdered guards with interest. All of them had been killed quickly and cleanly, with the precision close to a Spartan, before they had even noticed the assassin. Probably a professional. An artist of death. Emile could respect that.

The untimely death of Nassana Dantius was both a relief and an annoyance to Emile. He was glad the bitch was dead, but she could have kicked the bucket at least AFTER he was done interrogating her. But that leaved only one loose end.

Emile could have just lifted his shotgun and forced the green alien to confess, but something held him back. Why was he doing this?

He realised he was exhausted. Both physically from his slaughter through the towers, but also mentally from the confusion. He had landed smack dab onto a world, maybe thousands of lightyears from Reach. Meeting never before seen aliens and humans. Fighting them. Rushing through dozens of floors to find an evil neurotic. And then go back to square one when she get's killed by the praying man in the corner. Here they were, in this room. One dead, one praying, and one lost.

Speaking of which, that praying was starting to get on his nerves. Last he checked, religious aliens were not on his buddy list.

"Praying for her? Just a waste."

The reptilian humanoid looked up, giving Emile a good view of it's face. It was similar to a human's, but it had rough, green scales instead of skin and very large, pitch black fisheyes. His eyes were distant, the "thousand yard stare" military veterans usually gained after seeing so much during their life.

"Not for her," It responded in a deep, gravelly voice. "For me."

The figure walked past the desk where Nassana was lying. He lowered his head again.

"It is an atonement for my sins." He continued. "I always seek forgiveness after killing a person, no matter how wicked they are."

He approached Emile calmly.

"The measure of an individual is often counted by his actions. We both kill, yet knowing our reasons, would that make us evil?"

The skull-clad Spartan kept quiet, a little surprised by the answer. The assassin moved towards the window again.

"I witnessed your actions, Emile."

"Wait," Emile asked, "you know my name?"

"Since you first entered the Towers. You told your name to the Salarian worker."

_Oh, right. So those are called Salarians._

"The rest of you is an enigma to me," the other one pressed on, inspecting him. "Your equipment. Your formidable, if unorthodox combat skills. It is not like anything I have seen before. Yet I could only guess you were human."

_He called me a human, yet I do not know him._

"You want answers, I guess," Emile said softly. "Which I need too."

"I think Shepard should provide you with that. Shortly."

Emile tilted his head a bit.

"Shepard who?"

A clicking noise turned Emile towards the door. He raised his shotgun.

* * *

"Jun I'm ba-STATIC-ely reading you! What's your status?"

Jun raised his hand to the intercom. He stood further away from the quarian group.

"Six! Where the hell are you? Where's Emile and the Commander?"

"Th-STATIC didn't make it."

The news hit the sniper like a brick.

"Shit."

"Lis-STATIC-n. I'm still on Reach, but I'm on my way to a LZ right now. I've got to hurry, the Co-STATIC are going to gl-STATIC Reach!"

"Say again Six?"

"The Covena-STATIC-nt are going to glass the pla-STATIC-net! Listen, I've got to go, I'll contact you in a fe-STATIC!" The feed cut.

"Six? Six! Damn it."

Jun slowly dropped his hand from the intercom. They had lost Reach, and Emile and Carter alongside it. And now Six was in danger. He cursed himself for not being able to help them.

"Something wrong?" A voice came from behind him. Jun turned around and saw Tali looking at him.

"No. Nothing."

* * *

Shepard was dumbfounded. He certainly did not expect being threatened at gunpoint at this time. On instinct, he and his squad raised weapons towards the other assassin. Strangely, the skull-clad man lowered his own and relaxed. He apparently felt safe when he saw Shepard's face.

"You're commander Shepard?" He asked.

The commander ordered his squad to lower their weapons.

"Yes, that would be me," he replied calmly. "I take it you're the one who caused the carnage down below?"

The other one shrugged. "Yeah."

Shepard relaxed. Obviously the man had no hostile intentions towards him. He instead focused on the drell that was standing a bit further away, while a dark skinned man stood beside the other one, nervously glancing towards him.

"So I guess you're Thane Krios. I've wanted to speak to you."

Thane nodded slightly. "I thought so." Shepard approached him while the other human observed them.

"I'm recruiting the best for a mission against the Collectors. They've been abducting human colonies lately."

The drell turned towards him.

"Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 Relay. No ship has ever returned from doing that."

"They call it a suicide mission," Shepard answered. "I intend to prove them wrong."

Thane slowly walked towards the window, gazing through it. He seemed to be in deep thought before he shot up his head again.

"A suicide mission," he repeated. "Yes, that will do." He lowered his head again. "I'm dying, Shepard."

Shepard became worried. The dossier had not mentioned that. "You're dying? Is it contagious? How long do you have?"

"Fear not Shepard," Thane answered. "It is not due to yet, and it will not affect my mission. The universe is a dark place, and I want to make it a little brighter before I die."

Shepard did not speak. Instead, he walked up towards the drell and shook his hand.

"Welcome aboard, Thane."

As they turned to leave, they stopped as they were hailed by someone Shepard had completely forgotten for the moment.

"Wait."

* * *

"I'm recruiting the best for a mission against the Collectors. They've been abducting human colonies lately."

Emile snapped to attention when he heard those words, like on impulse.

_No, wait. I can't seriously consider this! I know nothing of this world, hell I don't even know where I am!_

But he was a Spartan. Dedicated to protecting Earth and it's colonies. He had failed in doing so on Reach: This could be a new start for him. Human lives were in danger and he would assure of their safety, no matter where.

"Attacking the Collectors would requiring passing through the Omega 4 Relay. No ship has ever returned from doing that."

_Wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy._

Emile stared at the commander. He behaved like a leader, and the Spartan could see grim determination in those eyes. No other person would have volontarily thrown themselves into danger.

"They call it a suicide mission. I intend to prove them wrong."

Emile chuckled under his breath. He was fearless alright.

The Spartan considered his options for a moment. Right now, following Shepard would be the most plausible try. He had nowhere else to go. He would have to try.

As they turned to go away, Emile stopped them.

"Wait."

Everyone turned around.

"If the lives of thousands are at stake then I will not see it go unpunished," he continued. "I'm in."

Shepard crossed his arms. "Why should I trust you?"

To Emile's surprise, Thane decided to intervene. "I saw it myself how this man took down entire squads of mercenaries by himself, Shepard. I can vouch for his combat skills personally."

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Emile muttered before continuing. "If it's a suicide mission, you're gonna need me. Plus, any way of this hellhole would be appreciated."

Shepard sighed before speaking again. "If you can kill Collectors like you massacred those Eclipse mercs down there, then you're free to come aboard."

This time, Emile sighed out of relief. "Thanks Shepard. I won't let you down."

* * *

**Okay, I know this feels a bit rushed, but I've spent eight damn chapters with not much happening. This story needs to speed up a little even in my opinion.**

**Yes, It's a short chapter, and I know some will complain, but PLEASE, I'm trying my best here!**

**Oh well, it feels good to be back anyway, but don't except to see too much from me now on, because mom uses this computer a lot (ahemFacebookahem). Anyway, see you! **


	9. Chapter 9: Mistrust

**Hello audience! Here's chapter 9 for Behind the Skull! The plot will really boost off from this chapter on, so let's get to work!**

**Oh, and check out Salvation: A Half-Life-ME crossover by Jesse De la Rosa. Really good story for both ME and HL lovers, but really underrated. **

**DISCLAIMER: Blah blah blah Mass Effect blah Halo blah blah.**

* * *

The Normandy wasn't like any ship Emile had seen in his life. UNSC ships were built to be utilitarian, tough and rugged; this looked more like some kind of Covenant stealth vessel, with it's sleek curves and elegant design, but still with a serious, "don't mess with me" look. The same could be said about the interior. As soon as he exited the airlock into the ship, the party was greeted by a voice from the cockpit.

"Hey commander, just been shopping, right?" Everyone turned towards Joker while Shepard sighed.

"Very funny, Joker."

The pilot grinned. "Well you know, just a bit curious..." He looked at Thane.

"So, here's mister assassin from the dossier and..." He glanced towards Emile's skeleton faceplate and froze.

"_Holy shit.._."

The Spartan chuckled.

"Uh, commander you sure that's a human being?" Joker whispered towards Shepard. "We've already got a lunatic in engineering and a krogan in the cargo hold..."

Shepard rolled his eyes. "Joker..."

"Alright, alright," Joker admitted, raising his hands.

The group continued towards the debriefing room, while the crew gave them odd looks. Shepard's XO Miranda was already waiting in the meeting area. Her expression quickly changed from normal to confused when everyone entered the room.

"Shepard," she began, unsure. The Spartan noticed she had a slight australian accent. "The dossier mentioned only one assassin, not..." She stared at Emile. "...Two." He sighed.

_Guess I attract a lot of attention._

"We picked him up on the way," Shepard answered. "Said he wanted to to help us against the Collectors."

"Well in that case I should report to the Illusive Man. See you later commander," she saluted before leaving the room. Jacob followed suit.

"I see you met my XO Miranda Lawson," Shepard told Thane and Emile. "Now, where should I put you aboard the ship?"

"A dry, quiet space would be preferable," Thane answered.

A blue orb appeared out of a terminal. "The life support tends to be slightly more arid than the rest of the ship."

"Ah, an AI? My thanks." The drell bowed before it, before doing the same towards Emile and Shepard. He then left the room.

"How about you, Emile?" Shepard asked.

He shrugged. "Anywhere will do."

"the port observation deck is currently available," the glowing blue avatar responded. Emile nodded before exiting the debriefing room, following Thane to the elevator, not speaking a word during the ride. They split after they had arrived without a word.

* * *

Shepard had decided to visit his newest addition to the crew after grabbing a quick meal. To the commander, this Emile was a complete mystery; not even Thane was able to give out much information about him. According to the drell, the human had showed up shortly before Shepard, massacring his way up to the towers. He had seen the carnage himself caused by the man, and frankly was a bit worried. Jack was one thing; she was dangerous, but like Grunt, she kept herself in check when Shepard was around. But Emile... The last thing Shepard wanted was a madman onboard. The knowledge that a seven feet tall man with the ever grinning face of Death scratched onto his visor was walking onboard the ship was... Disquieting. What did it mean? Did he see himself as a personification of death? Did it have something to do with his past? Whatever it was, it must have been violent.

The elevator doors opened and Shepard made his way to the port observation deck. The holographic panel reacted to Shepard's presence and dissipated before the door opened with a soft hiss. The commander slowly stepped inside.

Emile was leaned towards the railing, silently observing the sunset over Nos Astra that illuminated his visor in the low-toned lights. He turned towards Shepard at the silent sound of the door opening and stood up, contemplating the commander. Both just stood there for a while before Emile engaged conversation.

"Yes commander?"

"Mind if I ask a few questions?" Shepard asked.

Emile stood still for a little while before answering. "It depends on what you have to ask."

Shepard raised and eyebrow. "How come?"

He shrugged. "It depends what I can answer."

Shepard frowned a bit, but kept talking.

"No one's ever heard of you before. How did you arrive on here on Illium?"

Another silence.

"It's a long story. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"How come you ended up storming the Dantius Towers, though?"

"A part of that very long story," was Emile's reply.

Shepard frowned again, but decided not to press any further on that matter. Clearly, Emile was reluctant to give out any information. Maybe he should ask Liara.

"I have to get back to work," He said before turning back.

* * *

"I'm sorry Shepard, not even I know anything about him. It's like he's never existed until you recruited the assassin."

Liara scrolled around a bit more on the screen before frowning.

"He does not appear on any list, Shepard. I'm sorry I could not help you. He simply does not exist."

Shepard sighed and shook his head.

"I understand. I will go back to the Normandy."

"Be careful Shepard."

"I will."

* * *

Shepard paced around in his cabin. Just a while ago the Illusive Man had contacted him after receiving his report from Miranda, asking him if bringing Emile aboard really had been a smart decision. Shepard had replied that there was no time to jump to conclusions until Emile had been seen in combat.

"Be careful around him, we have no psych profile about Emile, but I trust your judgement. Good luck Shepard."

The Illusive Man had finished his conversation with those words before disconnecting.

Shepard took his elevator down to the CIC again. He would trust Emile... For now.

The commander stepped out.

"Joker, set a course for Haestrom. Tell Thane and Emile to meet me at the Kodiak when we arrive."

"Aye-aye."

* * *

Stepping out of the elevator, Emile made his way to the Armory. His fight in the Towers had shown him that while his shields were considered powerful in this world, his bullet-based weapons would have to be upgraded.

Jacob, one of the operatives he had met with Shepard saluted him. He replied the same.

"Something you need, Emile?"

He gave Jacob his shotgun and pistol. "I've noticed these aren't very effective around here. Could you incorporate normal weapon ammunition into those?"

Jacob picked up the weapons and examined them. "Not sure... It's different, that's sure. I'll see what I can do. Oh and by the way, take this. You're gonna need it." Jacob handed him an Omni-tool. "The standard issue Alliance Galactic Codex is already installed, but you can install a couple of other features if you want. Just slot it into your armor."

Emile nodded and left for his room again.

Half an hour later, Emile had learned most of the functions of his Omni-tool, and had even installed an Overload program onto it. Before he had time to read from the Codex, however, Shepard's voice sounded on the intercom.

"We've arrived at Haestrom. Thane, Emile, meet me in the shuttle hangar."

* * *

**I know, this chapter felt more like a transport scene. But anyway, see you around!**


	10. Chapter 10: Haestrom

**Hello readers! Sorry for the wait, but I haven't been thinking about this story for a while. Damn, this is getting ridiculous. How long before I last update? A month? More? I can't keep up with this...**

**But then again, I told you not to except much from me in the last chapter.  
**

**I mostly blame it on school. There's a lot to do now that the vacation is dawning. And I mean a LOT. Three essays plus a french test. And before that I was away on my easter vacation.  
**

**Anyway, the good news are that I finally managed to fix my goddamn computer! Took some time, but it was worth it! Anyway, now that our little issue has been fixed, storywriting should speed up a bit.**

**I see that reviewer Jacob has a lot of interesting questions, so I'm going to answer them.**

**1. Will Jun and Emile keep their guns but with different bullets?  
Yes. As a matter of fact, Emile's shotgun will already be rebuilt if you keep reading. It's got the power of at least a Claymore now. :)  
**

**2. Will there be any pairings like Emile and Jack or Jun or Tali?  
I'll say it right away; no. I'm not a good romance writer: I'll leave that to my more competent colleagues.**

**3. Is Jorge or Master Chief going to be in this story?  
No. This story's main focus is Emile, and it might get very confusing by adding more characters.**

**4. Are Jun and Emile going to get extra shields (adding Mass Effect shields and Halo shields)?  
Nah, that would be a bit overkill. Besides, they are already good enough.  
**

**4. Is Noble Six ever going to get into the Mass Effect universe?  
He's not going to enter it, but he will be involved somehow.**

**5. Will EDI and Dot meet, I'm sure one of them would surely notice each other since Dot can talk to Jun in the Mass Effect universe and Noble six.  
****Yes, it is only a matter of time. Expect some controversy.****  
**

**P.S: My computer only has an old Nvidia Geforce 5700 GT something graphics card, and I want at least a Geforce 8800 to run Empire: Total War smoothly. Does anyone know where I can buy a cheap one?  
**

**DISCLAIMER: Flying pink elephants. 'Nuff said.**

* * *

As the shuttle raced through the atmosphere down to Haestrom's surface, Emile had to squint even when he had both his helmet and the polarized glass of the shuttle window to protect his eyes from the sun. Emile knew that it was way too strong for it to be acting normally, but right now, he was more concerned with the consequences it could have on the mission. True enough, EDI's robotic voice chimed through the shuttle's speakers.

"Shepard, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins. There is considerable geth activity, and an enviromental hazard. Solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom's protective magnetosphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will damage your shields."

"So we'll have to stay in the shade then," Shepard deduced.

"Correct."

_Wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy._

The shuttle slowed down before landing and the door opened. Shepard, Emile and Thane stepped out onto the surface. The team then advanced towards their objective.

While Emile wasn't any art connoisseur (_Explosions don't count Emile_, he had often heard Carter say), he had to admit these buildings were fairly old, maybe 500 years at least. What were they called, those who built this? Quarians? He had only time to skim through the codex, so he knew little about them except their war with the Geth and the Migrant Fleet.

Still, what he found the most difficult to grasp was the fact that the Humanity who existed around here was completely deviating from his own. Their history, to begin with, was entirely different. Instead of achieving spaceflight on their own, the discovered the Charon Relay orbiting Pluto, and met the Turians in some brief fight before brokering a truce, unlike the bloody war against the unrelenting Covenant.

Of, course, Emile found this all very hard to swallow. He had stared at those files in complete disbelief, unable to wrap his head around the fact that he had somehow "died" and landed straight into another reality. He first dismissed the theory as some kind of pre-death dream; actually it flew right out of the window as soon as bullets had been flying around his head. Besides, this was all too well thought out to be in his imagination. He was a Spartan, not one of those obscure writers publishing crazy stories on the internet.

Then, this... "Systems Alliance" seemed to be this world's UNSC, but more focused on diplomatic affairs rather than peacekeeping or war. That's what he liked with the military life in the United Nations Space Command. Be debriefed, kill the enemy, execute the mission. Most people in the Alliance, he guessed, were paper pushers.

And then there was the issue with Cerberus, who Shepard seemed to be working under right now. Most denizens of the galaxy branded them as xenophobic terrorists. Not that it mattered to Emile; Cerberus was, in some few aspects, actually a carbon copy of ONI, so he knew they knew what it would take to finish the mission successfully. What did disturb him though was the sheer amount of fuck-ups their experiments had turned out to be: something about "Rachni", and a "Thorian" who had gone haywire or something. And then there was Shepard himself; stopped a galactic threat before he was killed and unbelievably brought back from the dead to fight another one. Reviving and waking him up after two years? Cerberus really could cut corners.

He decided not to ponder on it any further though. There was a mission to complete.

Emile followed Shepard and Thane as they cut through a walkway leading down to a gate. As soon as they stepped into the blinding sunlight, the shield integrity alarms beeped through Emile's helmet while he followed their slow decline on the HUD.

"Sun's messing up my shields," he muttered.

"Me too," Thane answered.

"Let's hurry up," Shepard ordered.

The team soon got out of the deadly sun's rays and entered some kind of bunker. A suited humanoid with a polarized visor was slumped in the corner in a pool of blood, while several robot parts laid scorched around on the ground. A small radio was clutched tightly in the suit owner's hands, looping a single broadcast.

"...Emergency log entry. The Geth are here. I've stayed behind to buy the others time. If you hear this, find Tali'Zorah. She and the data is all that counts now. Keelah Se'lai..."

Emile saw Shepard frown slightly, but the commander remained silent. He proceeded to open the gate.

As soon as they entered the next area, they were greeted by a hail of shots.

"Get to cover!" Yelled Shepard.

Instantly, Emile's training kicked in. He rushed towards a stack of pipes alongside Shepard. A Geth trooper spun out of cover and opened fire; Emile grabbed a medium-sized metal beam from the ground, about as long as his arm, and hurled it towards the unlucky Geth. It impacted the neck area, knocking it from it's feet and putting a sizeable dent onto it's shell. It never had time to recover though, as the Spartan aimed his shotgun and fired...

_"You sure about this Emile?" Jacob frowned. "The way I modified it like you wanted, it would break a normal human's arm."_

_Emile shrugged. "Good I'm not a normal human then."_

...The shots hit at point blank range and mowed the Geth into papier maché, sending the remains careeing through the air and landing far away. By this time, both Emile and Shepard had managed to rush into cover. While the commander openly stared incredulously at Emile for his little trick, the Spartan could only smile behind his helmet. _I think I like this gun._

The commander and Noble Four both sprang into action, Shepard peppering a careless Geth platform with his Avenger, and Emile sending another one flying by a buckshot. A third one moved into the field, but was quickly neutralized by Thane, who had stayed further back to provide sniper support.

A larger white Geth advanced onto them, shotgun in hand. Emile brought his Omni-tool to bear, activating the Overload program and aiming at the Hunter. It began to convulse violently, blue sparks emanating all over it's body, before being brough down by a sniper shot, courtesy of Thane.

Several more mobile platforms stormed the area. Shepard rushed from his current position and to a nearby stone block, spaying down two troopers before diving into cover and reloading. Emile moved to the opposite side of the combat area, intending on flanking the Geth force. He destroyed a Geth trooper with a shotgun shot, before bull-rushing right into another one, bowling it over and then trashing it with another shell. He hurried over behind a large stone pillar, swapping thermal clips before peeking out again.

Suddently, he heard Shepard shout "Emile! Watch out!"

True enough, he noticed a faint shimmer moving onto him. Emile had fough way too many Spec-Ops Elites to be fooled by it. Active Camouflage.

He brought his shotgun onto it and fired, downing the cloak and revealing another Geth Hunter. The lumbering machine intended on smashing Emile with it's gun, but the Spartan easily grabbed the weapon. The Geth then proceeded to push all of it's weight upon him, hoping to make him fall, but Emile anticipated the move and sidestepped, letting it fall onto the ground instead while drawing out his kukri knife. As soon as the Geth Hunter had hit the dirt, he plunged the knife into the machine's optics, sending several sparks flying. Emile drew out the knife and crushed the head with the butt of his shotgun several times before grabbing the platform and, with all strength he could muster, hurled it away a small distance right at a number of Geth troopers, bowling them over and sending them all to a fiery ending when the Hunter destabilized and exploded.

After the dust had settled and the sound of battle had dissipated, Shepard's voice sounded through the intercom. "Report."

"Thane here. I'm good to go."

Emile lifted his hand to the radio. "Same here."

"Alright. Regroup."

The team assembled in the middle of the battlefield. Emile could tell all of their looks were focused on him. Thane chuckled a bit.

"Well Emile," Shepard began, a small smile upon his mouth, "that was pretty crazy work."

The Spartan shrugged. "It's what I do."

* * *

The push through Geth-controlled areas was relatively quick after the initial battle; it was mostly skirmishes against maybe three to eight Geth platforms. This was of course a matter of concern to Shepard. There was too few of them. Either the Geth were planning something, or they had engaged the quarians somewhere in the ruins.

True enough, he and his team stumbled upon some Geth firing away at some unseen target, with quarian bodies at their feet. Those synthetics soon shared the organics' predicament.

As soon as Shepard was about to order his team to advance, a voice cracked from a radio on one of the bodies.

"This is squadron leader Kal' Reegar to all survivors. Come in, over." Carefully, he picked up the radio from the dead quarian.

"This is commander Shepard from the Normandy, over."

"Shepard? The one Tali served with? What are you doing out here in Geth controlled space?"

"I'm here to help. We can talk about details later."

"Patch yourself through channel 617 Theta. We're on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after but the Geth found us. Can't evacuate, can't transmit data through the solar radiation." The sound of a rocket launcher firing resonated through the intercom, along with the sharp crack of a sniper rifle.

"how are you holding up? Is Tali with you?

"We're a dozen people left. Mostly marines, with the science team left. I left Tali into the security bunker with some of my best men."

"We'll get to you."

"Roger tha... Damn! Geth dropship incoming!"

Shepard hurried over and saw several quarian marines holding out in front of the door before they were killed by energy blasts from the dropship, who quickly fled the scene. As if a final insult, a huge stone pillar fell over and blocked the door.

"Damn it!" Reegar exclamated. "There are some demolition charges nearby! Fetch them and blow a hole through that rock!"

The commander turned around to his squad and motioned them to follow.

* * *

"Damn it Tali! There's too many Geth! We can't reach you!"

"Try to hold on until Shepard arrives here!"

Kal' Reegar ducked again behind his cover alongside Jun while a few shots pinged of his cover, barely missing his face. "Damn it!"

All hell had broken loose earlier today. The Geth had initiated a surprise attack, taking Reegar's squad by surprise. In all the chaos, he and Jun had become separated from the rest of the quarians when a dropship had maneuvrated above the center of the courtyard and dropped of an entire platoon of Geth onto his squad.

"Enemy dropship incoming!" He heard Jun shout.

The flying machine sweeped over them, carrying something under it. It dropped it's cargo near the sealed bunker before leaving. Jun could not see proprely what it was until a large head jutted out behind the stone cover, before eventually revealing the rest of it's four-legged body.

"Shit!" He heard Reegar shout. "Colossus! Get to cover!"

A cannon of some sorts charged up before firing a blue orb at their position, shaking the entire ledge on impact.

_Thank god for this cover_, Jun muttered.

The colossus fired again, but this time at the control room above them, showering them with dirt.

"Ah, come on!"

He stood up again, firing at a Geth trooper and pulverizing it with a single shot before diving into cover again and reloading. He sighed when he realized he only had two magazines left. Reegar tapped him on the shoulder.

"We've got reinforcements!"

Jun's head shot up at the sight. Three people were approaching. One was definitively human, with grey armor and a single red stripe running down his right arm. Jun discerened the words N7 onto his chestplate.

The second one was humanoid by all rights, but with green scales instead of skin and very large eyes, almost like a reptile.

And the third one... He dropped his jaw when he recognized the huge skull scratched on the helmet, the huge knife onto his shoulder and that familliar shotgun. The Spartan stopped as soon as he saw his fellow Noble.

"Jun? What the fuck are you doing here!"

Yes, it was definitlvely him.

* * *

**There you go! One extra long chapter (by my standards) for you to read! Hope you enjoyed it.**

**And yes, I'm sorry again.**


	11. Chapter 11: Buckin' Awesome

**Hello again!**

**Been on a three-week long vacation to Italy, so that's why you haven't head from me for a very long time.**

**Anyway... GET TO DA CHAPTA!**

* * *

Shepard's squad quickly slipped behind the protective barrier beside Kal'Reegar and Jun as gunfire peppered above them. Reegar quickly stood up and fired away a rocket towards a Geth trooper, blowing it apart. Ducking again as the other platform retaliated with furious fire, he turned his attention to Shepard.

"Squad leader Kal'Reegar!" He introduced himself loud enough to be heard over the sounds of battle. "We talked on the radio before the Geth arrived!"

"Are you and him over there the only ones left alive?" The commander asked, nodding towards the human sniper.

"Yeah, Geth killed the rest of my squad, and Tali is locked inside those ruins. Had her put to safety before retreating."

Shepard looked over his shoulder towards Emile, who was busy talking with Jun like they were familiar.

"You know him?"

Emile's head shot up. "Let's just say we've been through a lot together."

_Just a regular family reunion._

While Shepard would have liked to know how these people knew each other so well, he had more, slightly urgent matters to attend to. He spoke to Kal'Reegar again.

"What can you tell me about the Colossus?"

_"_Standard strategy for dealing with Armature-class units is to wilter it's shields down, kill it with bug bites. But the repair protocol blows that plan to hell, it just huddles up and fixes itself. So if we're going to kill that thing, it probably means getting close to it, past that barrier."

Another shot from the Colossus shook their cover as to prove it's point. Shepard sunk into thought. He had killed an Armature before on foot when he was on Therum, with even lower odds; however, the amount of Geth had been significantly less back then. He turned to Reegar again.

"What can you tell me about the battlefield?"

"The right side's got gives you a good vantage point, but the sun will probably fry your shields and there's little cover. Middle's got cover, but there a swarm of Geth there, and your ass is hanging for the Colossus to fry. Left side gives you good cover from the sun, but you will be vulnerable to the Geth. That's were I got shot."

"How's your suit damage?" Shepard asked concerned.

"Combat seals are clamped down and I'm swimming in antibiotics. I might die here but not from a suit rupture, that's just insulting!"

Shepard sighed in relief that it wouldn't be a problem and cautiously looked over the edge to get a good view of the battlefield. The Colossus was dangerous, but it's cannon fired slowly, so his main problem until he actually reached the Armature was the other Geth in the courtyard. But with a solid plan, he could get rid of them easily and then turn his attention to the Colossus itself. He looked over to Jun.

"You're a sniper. Do you have any bullets left?"

"Not many, but enough to drop a few of them."

"Alright. I want you and Thane to provide covering fire while me and Emile go down the middle. When it is clear, you go to the ledge on the right while me and Emile continue left. We're taking it from both sides. Reegar, stay here and shoot the Colossus only when we are distracting it."

"You sure Shepard?" The quarian marine voiced his concern. "I don't want to see you risk your lives like that."

"You've already done enough Reegar. Stay here."

Albeit a bit reluctant, he decided to follow Shepard's orders; he seemed to know what he was doing. The commander turned to the snipers again and raised three fingers.

"Three... Two... One... MARK!"

At his command, Jun and Thane quickly sprang into action, firing away volley after volley of rifle shots into the Geth troopers. Shepard and Emile ran down the ramp, taking cover behind some pipes before an Armature shot hit Shepard's cover.

* * *

Emile was now in his element. A Geth Hunter decided to charge him; he sidestepped with Spartan reflexes, drew his knife, turned around and combined his momentum with his raw strengh to plunge the knife into the eye before quickly drawing his shotgun and blowing it apart. Popping the heat sink, he then focused his attention to three Geth troopers who had lingered too close and destroyed them all with a single, well-aimed buckshot. The rest of the Geth troopers changed their combat tactics and tried to put some distance between themselves and Emile, but were quickly finished of by either Shepard's assault rifle bursts or a sniper shot.

"All clear Shepard," Thane spoke. "You may proceed."

Shepard and Emile made their way towards the Colossus on their side while Jun and Thane quickly sprinted to cover behind it, not wanting to stay in the sun for long.

The lumbering Colossus was guarded by several Destroyers in addition to normal mobile platforms, but those were quickly eradicated by a combination of accurate fire and rocket launcher explosions from Kal'Reegar's vantage point. The machine fired away towards Shepard, but he managed to find cover before he was blasted. A rocket impacted the Armature, effectively downing it's shields.

That, unfortunately, earned the towering war machine's attention. It charged it's cannon while Shepard frantically shouted into the intercom.

"Reegar! Get to cover now!"

However, before the Colossus did have any chance of firing, a ton of metal crashed on it's back.

The programming inside the machine's mainframe made the Geth equivalent of a surprised jump as they attempted to remove the unknown intruder from their back, trashing around like a madman. Emile, however, had activated the magnetic soles to stay on the machine. Quickly before the Colossus threw itself around again, he jumped up to it's "head" and, to Shepard's disbelief, PUNCHED his way into the inner workings of the Armature while roaring with anger.

"Emile what the hell are you doing?"

The Spartan did not listen, however, as he finally tore away a piece of metal from the Colossus to reveal several cables and machinery parts. Still holding on from the beast's savage movements, he raised his shotgun and pumped it.

"FIRE IN THE FUCKING HOLE!"

He blasted three shots into the inner workings of the Colossus before it toppled over, sending Emile falling to the ground along with it. He barely had time to stand up before the machine overloaded with a loud beeping.

"AH, hell."

* * *

Shepard recoiled back in horror as the explosion engulfed Emile and he was pushed back by the shockwave.

"Shit!"

After the the sound from the blast had faded, he got up on his knees again and stared in amazement and shock towards what emereged from the dustcloud.

Emile was alive and unharmed, crouching with his fist hitting the ground, and a white forcefield engulfing him that dissipated in a EM pulse as he stood up. The Spartan evoked a short laugh before approaching Shepard again. While the commander was relieved tha he was alive, he was still a bit mad on him for pulling such a stunt.

"You mind telling me what the hell that was?"

Emile shrugged. "Armor Lock."

* * *

**There ya go. A short, sweet chapter. The battle on Haestrom is over, and Shep got a little demonstration of the power of Armor Lock. (One of my favorite Armor Abilities WHEN IT'S NOT OVERUSED)  
**

**See you next time!**


	12. IMPORTANT NOTICE

Hello readers.

It is with with much regret I must inform you that I'm going to have to put this story, as well as all my others, on hiatus. I'm sure you are disappointed with receiving this instead of another chapter, but I've got several reasons for this decision.

First of all, as you may know, I've been normally very busy with my life; only now I'm so deeply buried under work that I had to prioritize away certain things, writing fan fiction included.

Secondly... Well, when I first started this story, it was in the belief that I would at least manage 30-40 chapters without problems. I was dearly wrong. So far, I've wildly posted out chapters when I could, neither caring nor having the time for an actual plan or rough draft. I made everything up on the go. While it offered me the chance to quickly work out everything cool on the spot (like the Colossus battle), it ended up making it harder for me to plan ahead of the story, leading to the one thing I've feared the most: running out of ideas.

Which brings me to the third reason. Without any real direction to head into, and with no ideas to back it up, it lead me to lose interest in this story. I simply don't have any motivation for seeing this to an end, and motivation, along with imagination, are what I think are the most important things a writer must have if they are to create a story.

So what now? I do at least intend to write _something, _but I will first need to reorganize my way of planning it through and finish my real life work. I will at least try to read and review other's stories while I can though, so don't expect me to disappear completely.

I hope you understand, and thank you for following Behind the Skull even though I was always later with my chapters that I intended. And above all, thank you for the wonderful reviews.

-Hexagonal


End file.
